Characters in Dead Poets

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Dead Poets Society
Who Said It?

http://www.antiromantic.com/category/characters/

Choices
All of us are called upon to make choices, most of which are not easy. Sometimes a choice sets into motion a series of events we had not counted on. This is true of characters in literature as well.
Choose a character who has made important choices that reflect a new way of thinking or that have consequences. In a multi-paragraph essay, do the following:
  1. Explain what the choice or series of related choices is.
  2. Describe what lead up to the choice, for example, what events, what changes in behavior or outlook on life. Did another person have any influence on the decision?
  3. Evaluate the choice(s): was it a good one? (Think about the short and long run) Was it all the character could do given his inexperience in life?
The movie will be shown in segments for several days. As you watch, make notes.
BACKGROUND: The setting is Welton Academy, a very traditional prep school for boys only, in 1959. The main
characters are:

 John Keating—the new poetry teacher
 Mr. Nolan—the headmaster
 Neal Perry—whose father decides everything for him
 Todd Anderson—the quiet and sensitive one, unsure of himself
 Cameron—the red-headed traditionalist
 Charley Dalton— later called “Nuwanda”, who dares to do anything,
 Steven Meeks—wearing glasses, who follows the crowd
 Knox Overstreet—in love with Chris the blonde cheerleader
 Pitts—the tall one

The Characters and Maslow's Hierarchy


maslow[1].jpg
maslow[1].jpg

PROFESSOR KEATING

  • Motivated by social needs;
  • He left London and a miscarried relationship and returned to Welton;
  • He was then looking for a sense of belonging and returned to Welton because even though he did not agree with its philosophy, it was a place where he felt safe and wanted;
  • In the end, his social needs are still unmet.

TODD ANDERSON
  • Seeking belonging and recognition;
  • Living in the shadow of his brother, a former Welton honor student;
  • Found a sense of belonging ; at end of story he apologized to Keating, then addressing Keating as captain, stood on his desk acknowledging that he supported Keating and that he felt a sense of cohesiveness with Keating.

NEIL PERRY
  • Seeking esteem, respect, recognition;
  • Living in fear of his controlling father;
  • After the play he stated “I was great” signifying he had achieved esteem, respect and recognition;
  • He then decided he would decide his own future and not allow his father to do so - he took his own life.

KNOX OVERSTREAM
  • In need of self-actualization;
  • Falls in love with a girl;
  • After he was finally able to tell her how he felt through a poem, his friends asked “What did she say?” Knox responded, “Nothing; but I did it” signifying that he had reached self-actualization.

School YearBook

Characterization
  • Cast of characters: How many kinds of characters do you see in the film? Can you classify them?
    (There are of course many ways of doing this: think of as many ways as you can.)
  • Which of the characters are "flat" and which of them are "round"?
  • What functions do the "flat" characters serve?
Keating: Would you say that Keating is a "flat" character?
  • The students: Quite obviously, all of Keating's students are "round" characters. What changes does each of them undergo as a result of Keating's arrival? (Note that you cannot type in the boxes).
|| || Before
After
Neil

Todd

Knox

Charlie

  • Mr. Nolan: What kind of principal is Nolan?
  • What is his educational philosophy? Do you agree with it?
  • Do you think the way Nolan deals with the "Dead Poets Society" incident is proper and appropriate?
  • Dr. Hager: Dr. Hager is an uninteresting character who simply enforces what Nolan believes to be "correct". Identify the instances where he serves as the "enforcer" of Nolan's principles.
  • McAllister: McAllister seems, at first sight, to be a compatriot in Nolan's camp. But upon further scrutiny, you can see that he is not simply another Dr. Hager. In what ways do you think he differs from Hager?
  • Compare the three teachers: Dr. Hager, McAllister, and Keating. Do they represent different types of teachers you have come across in your teaching career?
  • The Danburrys: What functions do you think the Danburrys serve in the story? What kinds of social values do they represent?
  • Chris Noel: What is so special about her name? In what ways is she related to Christmas, when the story ends?
  • What functions does she serve in the story?
Characters: Dead Poets Society http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/DeadPoetsSociety
Caveat lector! Character sheets are littered with spoilers.
Mr Keating
Played by: Robin Williams
The new teacher and previous student at Welton. He inspires the boys to 'seize the day' and restart his old club, the Dead Poets Society.
  • Blithe Spirit: He tries to bring life and free-thinking to the school.
  • Cool Teacher: He teaches English. He manages to fill his students with enthusiasm to study literature and especially poetry, and life in general.
  • Fired Teacher: He is kicked out of the school after Neil's death.
  • The Scapegoat: Welton and the Perrys blame him for Neil's suicide
  • Save Our Students: He wants to get his students interested and make them believe that their life matters and should be special.
Neil Perry
Played by: Robert Sean Leonard
One of Keatings students, who decides to restart the Dead Poets Society. He has a strained relationship with his controlling father.
  • Abusive Parents: His dad's rigid expectations lead him to commit suicide.
  • Ambiguously Gay: He and Todd are very, uh... close.
  • The Ace: He's bright, popular, sporty, in numerous clubs, Harvard-bound, and clearly the leader in his group of friends.
  • Broken Ace: Desite his popularity, he's actually trapped by his controlling father and sees no way out.
  • Big Man on Campus: Everyone adores him, and he's a talented actor as well as a good student.
  • The B Grade: There'll be hell to pay if he gets anything less than an A+ average.
  • Bromance: With Todd. Neil is instantly protective of him and the two are very close.
  • Decoy Protagonist: After his death, it becomes clear the true protagonist is Todd.
  • Driven to Suicide: After his father forbids him theatre and promises to get him from his school, Neil shoots himself with his father's pistol.
  • Extracurricular Enthusiast: Not his idea, but his father's.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Todd's blue. He's much more passionate and ready to do things.
  • Tragic Bromance: With Todd. Neil is immediately protective of Todd, and seemingly makes it his mission to bring him out of his shell. Then his own problems crush him, and he commits suicide, leaving his best friend more broken than before.
  • Stepford Smiler: He was miserable underneath his out-going, cheerful personality. It makes his death so very shocking.
Todd Anderson
Played by: Ethan Hawke
A new student at Welton, and Neil's roomate. He starts out as the most timid of the poets, but gains confidence thanks to Keating and Neil's encouragement.
  • Abusive Parents: In an interesting contrast to the pressure Neil suffers, his parents expect nothing of him and a deleted scene reveals his dad's equates his value as a person to his chemical worth.
    • Parental Neglect: A heartbreaking scene has Todd sitting alone with his birthday present... the same present he got last year.
  • Ambiguously Gay: His relationship with Neil is pretty...intense.
  • Always Someone Better: Both his parents and staff adore his brother Jeffrey, who was apparently Valedictorian and a National Merit Scholar. And they don't mind shoving it in Todd's face.
  • Bromance: With Neil. The two are very close and it's established Neil is Todd's only good relationship, at least at first.
  • Bromantic Foil: To the confident, outgoing Neil.
  • Grew a Spine: As the movie goes on, he becomes more confident.
  • New Transfer Student: As if his shyness wasn't bad enough.
  • Not So Different: Seems the complete opposite to the confident Neil, but it's revealed they both struggle with their parents' expectations.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Neil's red. He's much quieter and more introspective.
  • Shrinking Violet: He has trouble talking in class (or even one-on-one with his roommate) and avoids eye contact. He gets better though.
  • Tragic Bromance: With Neil. Throughout the movie the pair grow extremely close, confiding their family problems and comforting each other in trouble. Neil especially builds Todd's broken self-esteem, resulting in Todd becoming happier and more confident in himself. Then Neil kills himself and Todd is left distraught and heartbroken; it's unclear if he'll ever really recover.
  • The Unfavourite: To a devastating extent. His parents don't value him at all and he's constantly compared to his successful brother.
Charlie Dalton
Played by: Gale Hansen
Another of Keating's students and the most rebellious member of the Dead Poets Society.
  • Class Clown: Always goofing off.
  • Hot-Blooded: Definitely the most reckless of the boys.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As much as he likes to goof around and mouth off, he does care about his friends and refuses to betray them.
  • Rebellious Spirit: As seen below, he's more than willing to defy authority.
  • Undying Loyalty: Despite his careless attitude, he is extremely protective of his friends, refusing to betray them under a brutal beating and being expelled out of loyalty to Keating.
Knox Overstreet
Played by: Josh Charles
Member of Keating's class and the Dead Poets Society. Spends most of the movie attempting to win the love of local girl, Chris.
Richard Cameron
Played by: Dylan Kussman
Another classmate, who is grudgingly accepted into the Dead Poets Society.
  • Dirty Coward: He betrays his classmates and informs the authorities about their secret poetry meetings...just to save his own skin.
  • Establishing Character Moment: He invites himself into a study group with Neil then makes fun of Todd before even meeting him.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Turns out that the below trope is justified; people were right not to like him, since later he betrays everyone.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: For good reason. He betrays Keating to save his own ass.
  • It's All About Me: He doesn't care what happens to Keating and the rest of the Society after telling the administration about it since he got off scot free.
  • Jerkass: He wasn't pleasant to begin with, but betraying the Society? Dick move, dude.
  • Smug Snake: He betrays the Society and encourages the others to do the same. When Charlie punches him, he gloats that now Charlie is going to be expelled for sure.
  • Teacher's Pet
Steven Meeks
Played by: Allelon Ruggiero
The smartest member of the Dead Poets Society.
Gerard Pitts
Played by: James Waterston
The final member of the Dead Poets Society.
Principal Nolan
Played by: Norman Lloyd
  • Dean Bitterman: He is a stuffy old authoritarian who believes in physical punishment and uniformity.
  • Jerkass
  • Sadistic Teacher: He brutally beats Charlie with a paddle for a practical joke.
Mr Perry
Played by: Kurtwood Smith
  • Abusive Parents: He's overly controlling and unfeeling towards his only son.
  • Control Freak
  • Fantasy-Forbidding Father: His son has straight A's and is willing to study what his father wants him to do. Poor Neil still can't do any community theatre.
  • Jerkass: Would it really be so hard to just listen to Neil for once?
Chris
Played by: Alexandra Powers

  1. How do the characters and/or events reflect Transcendentalist views? (Find and list three examples)

John Keating –

  • be yourself/trust yourself
  • carpe diem
  • acknowledge your own emotions/emotions of others/spark of divinity in all humans
  • resist conformity
  • know when to be daring and when to be cautious
  • actually see what is there/observe/imbibe/appreciate
  • philosophies of Whitman and Thoreau
    • ‘don’t live lives of quiet desperation’
    • ‘the marrow of life’
    • ‘live deliberately’

Other Characters/Events

      • Neil: initiating/officiating at the Dead Poets Society meetings, acting in the A Midsummer Night’s Dream despite his father’s wishes
      • Knox: writing a poem/pursuing Chris
      • Charlie: nickname (Nuwanda), painting himself with the color red, inviting girls to the meetings, writing an editorial, phone call from “God”
      • Todd: speaking the poem, leading the rebellion against Mr. Nolan by standing on his desk
      • Todd, Knox, Pitts, Meeks, etc.: standing on their desks

        1. Why do other authority figures criticize Robin Williams’ character? Why are his philosophies so difficult for many of them to accept…what is he doing “wrong?” (Find and list two examples)
They perhaps fear:
          • His non-conformity
          • Non-traditional methods of teaching
          • Empathy for others’ emotions, desires, passions:
            • “The casualties may be your hearts and souls”
          • He is not blind to the human condition, as all other authority figures seem to be; he ‘sees’ what is actually there, observes



        1. Which of the students seems to MOST reflect the Transcendental philosophy by the END of the film? (Two examples)